Where You Least Expect It
by Dorkoftheyear
Summary: Leslie Knope and Anne Perkins have been friends for a little while now, but what happens when they start to grow even closer? Femslash Leslie/Ann pairing.
1. No Rest for the Sleepy

**Hey there! So I've just recently gotten into this show, and it's amazing, but there seem to be zero stories about Leslie/Ann, so i decided I might as well write my own. So here's the first part of what I came up with, let me know what you think!**

CHAPTER 1

Ann Perkins' head shot up from it's resting spot on the pillow as the doorbell sounded obnoxiously and frequently from the living room.

Sitting up on the couch where she had fallen asleep, she brushed soft brown hair back from her face and shoved one of her shoes on. The matching partner seemed to have wandered off while she was asleep.

The doorbell sounded again, three short bursts and then incessant knocking, followed by more high pitched bell.

Ann rolled her eyes, knowing exactly who was on the other side of the door.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." She muttered, cursing as she tripped over the other shoe, catching her balance with a hand on the wall. She quickly shoved it onto her foot and undid the lock on the front door as fast as she could. Anything to make the loud noises stop.

"Hi, Leslie." She huffed even while she was still opening the door.

"Oh hey, Ann." Leslie Knope did indeed stand on the other side of door, her face as plain and straight as though she hadn't just been knocking for the last five minutes. "Were you sleeping? It's 6 o'clock in the afternoon."

"I worked a double shift yesterday. Or earlier today? I don't remember. The point is, you woke me up." Ann scowled as Leslie pushed past her into the house.

Even though Ann hadn't known her friend for very long, Leslie seemed to be at her door more than anyone else. She thought of Leslie as annoying and insane in the good, caring sort of way. She just needed someone with her at all times to help filter out the crazy. Apparently, some higher power had chosen Ann for that job, but lately she didn't seem to mind that much. Leslie was super funny and intelligent, she just had very roundabout ways of making her intelligence work for her.

And also, Ann really needed her to help build a park on the used-to-be pit. That was just something she couldn't do herself.

She followed Leslie through the doorway to find the blonde already sprawled on the couch with her shoes off.

"Well I'm sorry I woke you up from your overly excessive nap, Ann, but maybe if you would start leaving your door unlocked like we discussed I wouldn't have to knock so loudly and we could have avoided this whole confrontation."

Ann blinked. "But then you could just... walk in... whenever you wanted..." She said slowly.

Leslie smiled big, looking off into the distance. "I know." She shook her head, coming back to reality. "But you'd have to be careful to make sure no one else... weird just comes strollin' in. Like a murderer, or Andy. I mean, they could just pop right in and you could be in your underwear!"

Ann bit her lip nervously. "Yeah, that's no good at all. Maybe you should just get a key, that way you could lock the door back up after you come inside."

"Yes. Yes that would work, because then it would only be me seeing you in your underwear." Leslie nodded approvingly.

Ann tried not to think about Leslie thinking about her without clothes on, but instead she wound up with images of Leslie without clothes on in her own mind.

_Well this is odd,_she thought to herself. _Get out of my head, naked Leslie!_

The tiny Leslie in Ann's mind patted the space on the sofa next to her suggestively.

_No, naked Leslie! Get out of here!_

Tiny Leslie gave a disappointed pout, then waved and disappeared.

_Weird,_ Ann thought. _I did not hate it though..._

"So maybe you could stop by the office tomorrow and drop off my key, that way I'd have it for-"

"Whoa, whoa, what?" Ann asked, shaking her head in confusion. "Why were we even discussing you getting a key for _my_ house?"

"Because there is a ghost in my house and I can't stay there anymore until I get it exorcized."

Ann was silent for a few seconds before repeating what she had thought she heard slowly.

"You said there's a ghost..."

"In my house. Yes."

Ann stifled the laughter she felt bubbling up inside her.

"Okay, well, why don't we go take a look? Maybe I can help." She couldn't wait to see what kind of crazy shit was actually going on at Leslie's. That, and Ann always like peeking into the other woman's home because it was, to put it nicely, a shit hole, with piles and boxes of who knows what scattered everywhere. Seeing Leslie's house made Ann feel better about her own lame housekeeping skills.

"I don't know, Ann. Are you a licensed exorcizist? Because honestly, at this point, that's what I really need."

Ann pressed her lips together. Her friend's face was just so _serious_.

"Yeeees," She said slowly. "I am a licensed... one of those. Got it done back in college. It was a phase, I don't want to go into too much detail."

"College phase, huh?" Leslie said, waggling her eyebrows. "Like a, like a lesbian thing? You did a lesbian thing in college, didn't you?" Ann opened her mouth to respond, but Leslie continued. "Oh, I never had the chance, I was too caught up in my classes for romance. Actually, I'm still kind of too busy with life to really worry about dating now... not that anyone asks... but you, Ann! Way to go. And let me just say, if I had the chance, I wouldn't mind. I would not mind."

Leslie looked her up and down, her eyes overly lingering as she walked past Ann and out the door.

Ann stood shocked, still by the couch, her mouth slightly open from when she was going to stop Leslie's rant, but had been cut off. Finally regaining control, she followed Leslie out the door and to her car, trying not to think about if Leslie had been serious about using Ann as a college phase.


	2. Be Careful What You Remember

CHAPTER 2

"Leslie, why is there an opened bottle of Vodka under your front seat?"

"Because it rolled forward from when it was under my back seat? Is this a trick question?"

The blonde stared at Ann, her light blue eyes narrowed into slits, unblinking.

Ann sighed and moved to step into the passenger's seat of Leslie's car after moving the bottle to the back floor. The other woman was already strapped in and had her hand poised to fit the key into the ignition.

"Buckle up for safety, Ann. Click it or ticket."

Ann resisted the urge to snicker as she clicked her seat belt on, and only then did Leslie start the car. The vodka bottle rolled forward and clanked against the back of the driver's seat, the clear liquid swishing ominously in it's confinement as the car lurched forward into motion.

Ann reached around behind her to pick up the liquor, examining the label.

"Ugh, Leslie what did I tell you about drinking this stuff?" The label confirmed that it was the bottom shelf liquor store brand. Again.

_That stuff is disgusting,_ Ann thought. _Good for getting you real drunk real fast, though. On second thought, maybe we should bust into this later..._

In her mind, Ann recalled how funny super drunk Leslie was, and how she didn't walk so much as stumble around and lean on people, mostly Ann herself, and how when she was drunk in one place for copious amounts of time she seemed to loose at least one article of clothing. These were things Ann liked about Leslie. Not to mention how Leslie tended to praise and dote on her when she was intoxicated. That was always a plus.

Ann usually didn't like receiving lots of attention, but she liked attention from Leslie.

She came back to the present as Leslie answered her question. Or tried to, at least.

"Umm... to only drink it with orange juice?"

"No."

"A shot a day keeps the flu away?"

"Definitely not."

"Always buy two bottles at once because it winds up being cheaper in the long run?"

"I don't know why you even say that."

"Oh! Oh, um, never lick it off a surface unless it's a girl's stomach!"

"Trueee, but not what I was getting at. I meant that- wait. When did I tell you that? Did that happen?"

"Oh, like you don't remember." Leslie scoffed, nailing Ann with one of her all-knowing looks. "Ron's birthday party a new months ago?" She grinned and yanked the wheel to make a hard left. Ann flew against the window in surprise, still trying to remember what Leslie was talking about. She made a mental note to ask someone from the office about it later. While her face was pressed against the glass, she saw that they were pulling up to the office building where Leslie worked.

"I thought you said we were going to your place?" She asked. "Wait, you're not living _here_, are you? Because I know you love your job and all, but that's just not healthy. Maybe I _should_ get you a key..." She muttered the last bit under her breath.

"No, I'm not living here, silly." Leslie said, rolling her eyes. "I just need to pick something up real quick. No sense in going home and then back here and then back home later when I could just take the work home with me now."

"Well then why don't you just work the rest of the day here and we'll go take a look at your place after?" Ann suggested.

"Because, Ann, I'd like to get this whole ghost business dealt with as soon as possible, and you're already in the car. And also, Who's the Boss re-runs come on at 2 and I am NOT missing another one."

Ann raised an eyebrow at her friend as they pulled into an empty parking space. "Sure. Makes perfect sense."

* * *

><p>"Hey April," Ann said cautiously. She was in the main lobby of the Parks and Recreation department waiting for Leslie to finish doing whatever it was she was doing. Ann still wasn't exactly sure. She had seen April sitting at her desk and, given the younger girl's ability to remember other people's embarrassing moments, had decided to ask her about Leslie's earlier comment in the car.<p>

Talking to April, however, was always a nerve-wracking and awkward experience, seeing as how she liked to make people as uncomfortable as possible. Ann guessed it was like a game to her.

She knew that depending on what kind of mood April was in, she could choose to lighten her mood by making whoever tried talking to her miserable. So Ann decided to test the waters before diving right in.

"What do you want?" April replied in her mid-day monotone. She didn't even look up from the magazine that was open in front of her. It looked like she was drawing mustaches and pirate eye patches on celebrities with a black marker.

"Say, that is a nice sweater. Is it new? It really brings out the um, joy in your eyes."

April blinked up at Ann, her blank expression unwavering.

"No? Okay then." Ann conceded, mumbling to herself. She took a step forward, nervously fraying the sleeves of her jacket. "Well, I just, uh, I had a question. About Ron's birthday party a while back."

That seemed to get her attention. April lifted her head slowly to meet Ann's eyes, a well hidden smirk ghosting across her face briefly.

"Okay. What do you want to know?" She folded the magazine closed and capped her marker.

"Well, someone had mentioned... was there any..." Ann lowered her voice to just above a whisper, glancing behind her as her sentence trailed off. "Did I do a body shot off of some girl at that party?"

April let out a small chuckle; the most happiness Ann had ever seen the girl emit. Ann flushed beat red.

"I guess you had a bit too much to drink, huh?" April asked, delighted. "You can't remember much of that night can you? I guess not, with the way you and Leslie were downing that disgusting vodka crap."

"I told her not to buy it." Ann mumbled in weak defense. "So, do you remember who it was, that I, uh, you know?"

April grinned. It wasn't cute or reassuring in any way. It was actually slightly menacing.

"Ten bucks." She held out her hand.

"No way!" Ann exclaimed, crossing her arms. "I'm not going to let you bribe me for information I could easily get for free from anyone else in this office."

"Not true, otherwise you wouldn't have come straight to me. You don't like to talk to me unless you absolutely have to." She looked smug as she spoke, placing her elbows down on the desk in front of her.

"You were just the first one I saw!" Ann said. "I'll go ask Tom if you won't tell me. I'm sure he'll remember two girls touching at a party he was there to witness."

"Five bucks." April said, her smile disintegrating. "Last chance. You know Tom will never let you forget it if you bring it up now."

"Ugh, fineee." Ann stomped her foot in defeat. She pulled a crumpled bill out of her pocket and tossed it onto the desk. "Here, take your blood money."

April plucked the bill up with two fingers and it disappeared from sight. "Thank you."

"Now hurry up and tell me before Leslie gets back."

"Funny you should mention Leslie..." April said, waggling her eyebrows.

Ann gasped. "No!"

"Yup."

"No!"

"I just said yup, weren't you listening? God, you are so rude."

Ann tried to recall the night's events in her head, thinking a play-by-play from the moment she walked in the door. She remembered the rum and cokes, the terrible game of twenty questions, the even worse made for tv movie they'd watched, the vodka being opened, her and Leslie doing shots, her taking a body shot off of Leslie's bare stomach, the slightly erotic game of Twister that followed, and then waking up on Ron's couch the next morning.

"Oh my god." She muttered against the hand she had pressed to her mouth. It was like she could suddenly taste the mix of the alcohol and Leslie's slightly salty skin on her tongue. The thought made her breath come heavier. She replayed it over and over in her mind.

"Alright, I'm ready to go!"

Ann let out a yelp as Leslie popped up behind her.

"Jeez Ann, you haven't even been to my place to see the ghost yet." She said, shaking her head. Don't be so jumpy."

"Going back to Leslie's, huh?" April asked, smirking again.

Ann pointed at her and mouthed "shut up!" as she followed Leslie out of the building, all the while picturing the beautifully pale stomach hiding under the shirt in front of her.


	3. Ann in the sky with Leslie

CHAPTER 3

Leslie pulled the car into her driveway with a screeching halt, gravity pushing Ann forward as the tires stopped. For once she was grateful that Leslie drove like a mad woman. The fearful car ride had somewhat distracted her from thinking about the blonde in a... different light, no matter how hard she tried to keep her brain from conjuring up images of them together. She had spent the whole ride trying not to look over at Leslie, afraid that something in her stare would give her away.

What was even worse was that during the trip she had gotten a text from April (she would have to remember to kill Andy later for giving out her number) saying _I own you now._

Ann had written back _Whatever. It's not like anything really even happened. Friends do stuff like that all the time. _In retrospect it seemed a little too defensive. But not any less true! Even though she might want something more-than-friend-like to happen.

_When did this even happen?_ She thought to herself. She couldn't remember when she had first starting thinking about Leslie like this, when she had stopped looking at every guy she passed as possible dating material. Apparently her mind had decided what it wanted, obviously something of the non-male variety, and it was letting her know.

The way her heart skipped when she saw a head of bright blonde hair, how her breath hitched when Leslie smiled at her, how she instinctively smiled every time Leslie laughed. The sensations were almost indescribable. She knew what was going on. She _liked_ Leslie.

_So what's the big deal?_ She asked herself. _It's not like she's your boss. You don't even really work there. You're two friends who hang out almost every day and have a great time together. Just like you and Andy used to be. Except you never had the strong urge to take Andy's pants off in the middle of a conversation. I wonder what kind of underwear she has on..._

"Are you going to sit in the car all day or what?" Leslie asked from outside the car, bringing her back out of her reverie of matching orange lace. Mmm.

"What? Oh, yeah, sorry. I'm coming." She scrambled out of the car clumsily, almost catching her jacket in the door as she closed it, and followed Leslie up the front steps.

"Be very quiet," Leslie said, turning to face Ann. She was so close Ann could only bite her tongue and nod. "I don't want to scare it off."

Ann very much doubted Leslie's house was actually haunted, and her brain couldn't fully focus on the task at hand anyway. She was dealing with ghosts of her own.

Leslie inserted the house key into the slot and turned the doorknob. They entered the house silently. Leslie reached behind her and grabbed Ann's hand, pulling her along. Ann swallowed hard.

"Ah!" Leslie yelped as the door shut. "The ghost!" She whispered.

"That was just me closing the door." Ann said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh. Right." The blonde looked embarrassed a flushed slightly, letting go of Ann's hand. She immediately missed the warm contact.

They made their way through the house, weaving around stacks of old newspapers and shelves full of useless items and folders. Apparently Leslie liked to keep personal records of every little thing she'd ever done regarding the parks department.

"Most of the noise comes from the attic." Leslie told her, her eyes moving slowly toward the ceiling.

"Of course it does. What kind of noises?"

"Things falling mostly. It's just a bunch of boxes with records and stuff up there, but still. There are noises." Her eyes fell back to meet Ann's, widely intense and beautiful.

"I'll go take a look." Ann heard herself say. Her brain was still caught up in Leslie's stare as she nodded an okay.

Ann found her way upstairs, passing the bedroom (which took a lot of self control not to go snooping for that lace) until she found the pull string for the attic door. With a firm yank the wooden stairs descended with an array of squeaks and squeals, and Ann padded up them carefully.

She pulled herself to her feet and felt the air above her head for a dangling string which, after gently tugging on it, released a dim yellow light into the attic. She walked forward to the first pile of boxes, seeing something strange, and shivered with disgust.

Termites. They crawled all over the boxes and wooden planks of the attic floor. She could see some of the boxes that had fallen over due to the bugs eating through the lower half of the stacks, their contents spilled out onto the wood.

Ann looked down at her shoes and arms as a reflex to make sure nothing was crawling on her.

Then the floor gave out beneath her.

The next thing she knew she was lying on her stomach on the second level of the house, staring down at Leslie's surprised face, surrounded by wooden debris and broken cardboard boxes.

"Did it get you?" Leslie asked, horrified. "Are you okay?"

"It's not a ghost, Leslie."She grunted. "You have termites. And they seem to have eaten through your attic floor. Ouch." She groaned as she shifted her weight, feeling pain in her right leg. _Nothing serious, at least, s_he thought.

Then the realization that she had landed on top of Leslie sunk in.

"Oh my god, are you alright? I fell on you! Tell me you're alright!" Ann pushed herself up to support her own weight on the palms of her hands.

Leslie nodded and smiled back up at her in that carefree way she had. "I'm fine. Glad I could break your fall."

Ann was very aware of Leslie's hands on her waist; her shirt had pushed up and Leslie's fingers were warm against her own skin. She could feel the blonde's chest rising and falling under her, faster than it should be.

_Am I crazy or is she breathing very heavily?_ She shook her head internally, telling herself it was because Ann was still on top of her. But she couldn't move. Didn't want to. Her jeans suddenly felt too hot and tight pressed against Leslie's legs, in between them. Their faces were so close...

Ann thought she saw nervousness in the blue eyes below her, like Leslie wanted to say something, do something, but didn't have the nerve yet.

"I-I'm sorry."Ann said, shifting her weight once again. "I'll get off you now." She let out a small nervous laugh.

"Or you could... not."

The response was quiet; a whisper.

Ann froze. She couldn't have heard right.

But when she tried to move again, not wanting to crush the woman under her, Leslie tightened her grip on Ann's waist, preventing her from moving.

Ann stilled again, her heartbeat rapid and loud against her chest, her breathing audible in the silent house.

She didn't break her gaze with Leslie. The blonde's crystal eyes held her own with a hesitant but sure stare, and Ann thought _she feels it too. It's not just me._

They stayed like that, frozen, neither one of them knowing what to say and neither willing to release the other, until finally, Ann reached down and brushed light blonde bangs out of Leslie's eyes. She closed her eyes against the touch.

"I don't know why, but I want to kiss you." Leslie whispered, slowly opening her eyes again with her adorably confused expression.

Ann's heart did that fluttering thing.

"I wouldn't mind..." She said. Her mouth was unreasonably dry and it felt as though all of her senses were increased tenfold. She thought she might faint at any moment due to hyperventilation.

_Please, just do it,_ she thought.

Leslie moved one hand off of Ann's side, and Ann felt drenching disappointment course through her, thinking that the blonde had changed her mind. She felt stupid.

Then Leslie brought her hand up to Ann's face, gently sweeping across her cheek. Fingers threaded through her hair and she felt her head being pulled down slowly toward Leslie's. She didn't have time to think before...

Her lips were amazing. More than soft, better than sweet, Ann could think of no words to describe the sensation. She closed her eyes against the kiss and leaned into Leslie, no longer afraid of crushing her.

She shifted her weight to one arm and buried the other deep in long blonde hair. Leslie slid a hand up Ann's back, pressing her down closer. She opened her mouth against Leslie's and her non-describable feeling intensified. She sighed softly.

Finally, _finally_, when air became necessary, Ann pulled away reluctantly.

"I'm suddenly very jealous of Andy." Leslie said, a small grin turning up the corner of her mouth.

Ann laughed. "And I'm suddenly very jealous of every guy who's ever touched you."

Their smiles dissipated as the silent staring contest resumed.

"What just happened?" Ann asked, unable to believe any of it.

"You fell through my attic." Leslie said with a smirk. "And then we might have kissed. I'm not really sure."

"Well then, we should probably try it again. To make sure."


	4. Better than a Man

CHAPTER 4

Leslie Knope sat at her desk in the office she shared with Tom, her eyes scanning over the new budget proposal on her computer screen for the hundredth time. Normally her work was all she cared about, and she could dive in and submerge herself in the local government world for hours on end with no problem, but today she just couldn't concentrate.

_I have Ann-brain_, she thought. That was the term she had come up with when she had first met Ann, in the public forum. Her brain had shut off when she'd seen those big brown eyes, and she had all but fallen in love with Ann's desire to fix the junky pit next to her house. She'd never met anyone so beautiful who cared about public safety before.

Well, she'd actually never met _anyone_ in Pawnee who cared about public safety before. The beautiful-ness was just a bonus.

Needless to say, part of the reason Leslie had thrown herself into this Pit project so devoutly was so that she could have an excuse to hang around Ann more. And if she could actually manage to pull off building a park on top of it, well that was super-impressive, right? Ann would have to like her then. Although, judging by what had happened yesterday, Leslie was fairly certain Ann already had more-than-friendly feelings for her.

_Go me! _She thought happily.

Deciding she wasn't going to be able to concentrate at all on this new budget plan, she closed the email and shut off the computer monitor, leaning back in her favorite leather wheely-chair. It was already after hours at the office, and everyone else had left.

Leslie sighed and pulled the roll-out sleeping bag out from under her desk, laying it out on the floor. With the termite invasion and her house missing an atom bomb sized hole in the attic floor now, she couldn't very well stay there, so last night she had slept on her office floor. Tonight she would do it again.

Not that she minded. Being able to wake up and jump right into work gave her a head start on her daily schedule. It amazed her how much time she saved when she didn't have to make the bed or, you know, drive anywhere. Leslie would live at work all the time if she could.

She had just closed the blinds on the windows looking out at the main lobby and turned back to her homely bed when there was a rattling knock on the door.

Surprised, she grabbed the straw out of the empty latte cup on her desk and called out tentatively "Who's there? I have a weapon!"

"Oh my god, you have a weapon in there?" A voice called out from the other side of the door. "Like a gun? Why?"

Leslie smiled, recognizing Ann's voice immediately. She opened the door without a second thought.

"Not really a weapon. Just a straw." She said, waving it in the air uselessly. She tossed it over her shoulder after catching Ann's quizzical expression.

The two stood there awkwardly in silence. They hadn't spoken much after the attic incident; Ann had just mumbled some excuse about being late for something and sped off. Leslie had been too nervous and confused to try to follow or stop her.

The staring match continued until Ann's eyes coasted around the room, and settled on the sleeping bag in the corner.

"Oh my god, you _are_ living here!"

"Am not."

Ann pointed to the bag. "Then what's that?"

"Art." Leslie responded without missing a beat. "I make art now. It's a hobby. That people do. People like me."

Ann narrowed her eyes. "Why are you sleeping here?"

"Because _someone_ broke a large hole in my ceiling and I have to wait until next week to get it fixed."

Ann winced as Leslie crossed her arms and tilted her head expectantly at the brunette.

"Did that someone say she was sorry?" She asked, almost pleading. "Really, really, a thousand times over, sorry? From the bottom of her broken down, decrepit, blackened heart? Did she-"

"Okay, okay. Apology accepted." Leslie cut her off, answering with a smile and rolling her eyes a bit. Ann returned the smile and walked into the small office. She plopped down on the edge of Leslie's desk as the blonde closed the door and sat down next to her.

"So, why are you sleeping here?" Ann asked again. "I mean, instead of getting a hotel or something."

Leslie shrugged. "It's convenient. I wake up for work in the morning and I'm already here. No driving required, lots of time saved. It's actually kind of nice."

Ann kicked her legs back and forth against the desk. "What about showers and food and stuff? None of that here."

"I hadn't really planned that far ahead, Ann." The blonde said. Neither of them were meeting the others eyes, although Leslie wanted to. She was afraid looking into Ann's face would make her loose all train of thought, and she would wind up babbling incomprehensibly about something completely unrelated, like how public restrooms have really inefficient hand driers, or how once when she was little she was a smurf for Halloween and the blue skin dye didn't come off for a week.

_Oh god, it's happening already,_ she thought, risking a glance up at the other woman.

"You could stay with me for a while, you know." Ann half muttered, picking at the end of her sleeve. Leslie thought she was deliberately not looking as well.

"What?" The blonde asked, surprised. "Really?"

"Well, yeah." Ann replied, finally looking up at the other woman. "I guess it's only fair that you should stay with me since I broke your attic. Kind of." There was an awkward pause as neither spoke. Leslie was enraptured in the big brown eyes staring at her and couldn't think of words at the moment. "And you wanted a key anyway, so..."

"I didn't really want a key," Leslie said. "I wanted you to want me to want a key, because the you wanting would mean that you cared like I cared, but I didn't really need a key because you always let me in without one anyway, I just thought that you wanting me to want a key meant you would want me and I wanted you to want that."

Ann blinked.

"What?"

Leslie sighed. Sometimes when she talked she felt like Ann didn't understand her at all. She rolled her eyes at Ann's confused expression and then leaned forward, taking the brunette's face in both her hands and kissing her softly.

"That." She said quietly when she pulled away, noticing Ann's eyes still closed. "I wanted you to want that."

"I did." Ann said as she opened her eyes. "I mean, I do. I don't get the whole key/want thing, but I get that you like kissing me. Which is good, because I like it too. I mean, I like you."

Leslie breathed a sigh of relief. "I like you too. In the way that I should like men, but I don't, I like you instead, because you're better than a man."

Ann's brow furrowed. "Thanks... I think."

"You really don't mind me staying with you for a few days?" Leslie asked, knowing what the answer was but asking out of politeness anyway.

"Of course not."Ann replied with a smile, nudging the blonde with her shoulder.

"Will you make pancakes?" She asked. Her face made it look like the answer would be a deal breaker.

"I'll do you one better: I'll make waffles."

_Good answer,_ Leslie thought. _Good, good answer._


	5. It Ain't a Thang

CHAPTER 5

"Leslie, wake up."

The blonde groaned into her pillow on Ann's couch and rolled onto her side.

"Come on, get up."

"No, go away." She threw an arm over her head lazily.

Ann poked her unrelentingly in the side.

"Oh my god, why are you doing this?" Leslie moaned, shifting onto her back. She refused to open her eyes.

"You have to get up." Ann said, still prodding the blonde's side. "You have to be to work by nine, right?"

"Please stop pokingggg. Why do you hate me?"

She heard Ann sigh and the annoying finger in her side disappeared. Then she felt a small tug on her eyelid as Ann pulled it open slightly. Leslie's eyeball lulled to the top of her head to glare at her.

"Fuck you, Ann!" She yelped. "Just let me sleep. I couldn't sleep at all last night. You snore. Did you know you snore? Someone should have warned me."

"I don't snore. Now get up. Go to work."

"I don't even work today. It's Saturday."

Leslie looked up at the other woman annoyed, her hair matted beyond belief from sleeping. Ann stared back at her quizzically.

"No, it's Friday." She paused, and Leslie could see her thinking it over in her head. "Definitely Friday. I know because I have the early shift on Saturdays, and if I didn't show up on time I would have gotten a call from-"

Ann muted, her mouth still open as if speaking as her cell phone interrupted her mid-sentence. She tentatively pulled the device out of her pocket and held it to her ear, a sink hole opening up in her gut.

Leslie glared at her dully in that 'I told you so' way.

"I told you so." She muttered. She face planted back into the pillow.

"Hello?" Ann asked in a weak voice. "Not at work on time? Yeah, Saturday, I know... ye- yes. Yes sir. Funny story about that... oh? O-okay. Thank you. Sorry. Good day. I mean, uh, bye?"

She hung up the phone quickly and tossed it onto the coffee table.

"It's Saturday." "I told you so." They said at the same time.

Leslie snatched up a pillow that had fallen victim to her sleep-ninja fighting off the floor and promptly smacked Ann in the head with it.

The brunette recoiled, shocked, and raised her arm to fend off the second blow.

"What the hell?" She cried.

"That's for waking me up on SATURDAY!" Leslie said, raising the fearsome weapon for a third strike, her hair sticking up in at least eight unconventional ways, making her look like a crazed hermit shooing the neighborhood kids off her lawn. Or Nell.

Ann skillfully managed to avoid the fluffy offender by attacking the by-standing floor with her face as she fell. She popped back up, leaping awkwardly onto the couch. Leslie shrieked and covered her face in anticipation.

Ann took the opportunity to grab the blonde's wrists with one hand, moving into a straddle above her, and snatched the pillow into her other hand, holding it poised above Leslie's head.

"Leslie Knope, you do NOT want to test me in a pillow fight!" She said fearsomely. "I went to college, I lived in a dorm, I am GOOD at this shit."

"Is your eye twitching?"

"It does that sometimes."

"Like a lot?"

"Usually when I'm nervous."

"Why are you nervous?"

"I'm straddling you."

"You could move."

"Nah."

Leslie paused uncertainly.

"Can I have my hands back now?"

"Nah."

"But I really need them."

Ann raised an eyebrow and released her death grip on Leslie's wrists. "For what?"

The blonde sat up, quickly closing the distance between them and pressing her lips to Ann's.

Caught off guard, Ann tumbled backwards, her head smacking against the armrest of the couch.

Leslie grimaced. "Sorry!" She gently ran her fingers over the rapidly forming bruise. "I was trying to be cute, and it went a lot smoother in my head. Sorry."

Ann pushed the blonde down onto the surface of the couch with a forceful kiss, blood thundering in her ears. She closed her eyes against the softness as Leslie's fingers entwined with her own, and she brought her free hand up to smooth away wisps of blonde hair as their bodies pressed together. Leslie's hand coasted up Ann's arm in an electrifying glide that tensed her entire body. She found herself leaning into the blonde more as Leslie's lips moved against hers with increasing pressure.

The kiss seemed to linger into infinity. Ann could feel Leslie's rhythmic breathing against her own chest, lulling her into a comfortable fog. She was very aware of each of Leslie's touches, and leaned into them as the other woman deepened the kiss. Hesitant hands pulled gently at the hem of Ann's shirt, not quite touching the skin beneath the fabric.

Ann pulled away, taking Leslie's hand into her own. "You're shaking," She said. The corner of her mouth turned up in a slight grin.

"Well your nervousness made me nervous." Leslie replied. She leaned forward to catch Ann's lips with her own again. Ann smiled into the unexpected kiss.

"Well you're still kissing me; you can't be that nervous."

"Maybe your lips shouldn't look so inviting if you don't want people to kiss you," The blonde mumbled against her mouth. She paused, and then looked up at Ann with narrowed eyes. "No one else better be kissing you."

"I should tell you the same thing." Ann said, pulling Leslie up to her lap. She locked her arms around Leslie's waist and grinned when she saw the blonde visibly swallow. "I've seen the way Ben's been looking at you."

"Ben? Ben the mini-mayor, Ben?" Leslie asked, baffled.

"Oh please. You two have been eying each other up since he and Chris got here."

"Nooooooo nonono. No way. Well maybe a little. But definitely not anymore."

"You know, it might not be such a bad idea to... how do I put this... let Ben think you're interested." Ann winced as she said it, watching Leslie's eyes puff up to the size of golf balls with surprise.

"What? Are you smokin' crack crazy, Ann?" She jumped up off the couch and paced up and down the room, flailing her arms as she ranted. "I'm not just going to waltz around city hall, throwing my 'bidness' at some guy just so people don't have to know we're a gay lady couple now. Not that I'm trying to define the relationship too early, we can totally figure that out later, I'm just saying that there's no reason for me to seduce Ben when I would just end up punching his sweet little baby face the first time he tried something. And that's just not right."

"I, um, I didn't say anything about you seducing him, Leslie." Ann scrunched her brow together in an awkward face. "I just meant that you're a city official, and this is a small town, and people in small towns already aren't too accepting of alternative lifestyles. Plus there was that whole thing with the gay penguins a while back."

"Oh my god you're right. I didn't even think about that. If those penguins come back into discussion after people know about us they're going to think I really was taking a political stand by performing that ceremony and then I might really lose my job."

"Speaking of jobs, I really should get to the hospital before they call me again." Ann said, standing up.

"Right, yeah, and I should go do some damage control."

"Well you know where the key is, and I'll be by the office later. Chris said he still needed to work out some new job stuff with me, so I'll see you then."

"Yeah, just one more thing though," Leslie said as Ann reached for the front door handle.

"Hmm?"

"That whole 'defining the relationship' thing..."

"Why don't we get back to that later?"

"Yeah, let's talk about that later." Leslie waved a hand in the air. "It ain't a thang. Later works better for me anyway since you'll be here later as opposed to now, when you're leaving."

"Bye Leslie."

"Bye Ann."


End file.
